Ipaben Bilmorn
Ipaben was born in the small gnome village of Sprocketville in Faerûn. As a young boy he was apprenticed by a gnome sage who lived in the outskirts of the village. There he learned the basics of alchemy, engineering, and the arcane. Frequent Goblin raids led to Ipaben coming up with creative ways to weaponize his knowledge. A particular incident that brought Ipaben no small amount of fame involved him attaching explosive runes to a local farmers chickens and sending them toward incoming Goblin bandits. Thinking they scored a free meal the Goblin group rushed toward the chickens only to have them start violently exploding, decimating the group. A few tavern songs, and Goblin horror stories, still refer to this event as the Cluckoning. Hearing of Ipaben’s deeds the College of Enchanters offered him the opportunity to study at their University on a small island off the coast of Faerun. There he honed his alchemical and technological skills. An intense rivalry forms between Ipaben and the Dwarf enchanter Izzit Brittlebeard, a fellow student at the college who constantly tried to sabotage Ipaben’s work. Ipaben, having learned all that he could from the college, leaves to make his fortune. Ipaben’s first attempt at employment was in the household cleaning industry in which he invented the, now banned, soot-sucker 9000, a portable device which sucks debris through a small portal to the astral realm. Izzit stole the plans for this device from Ipaben and sold a few of them to rich nobles in the city of Waterdeep. Unfortunately for Izzit a couple of the noble men were 'accidentally' sucked through the portal while their wives were cleaning with the device, leaving these poor women with only their massive inherited fortunes to keep them company. This led to the banning of the device across the realm and Izzit gaining an unfavorable reputation for which he blames Ipaben. Ipaben travelled from town to town looking for work, brew, and developing his next invention, a potent healing potion with a very low cost to craft. Izzit, hearing of Ipaben’s invention, hired Xanathar's Thieves Guild to steal the recipe from Ipaben. The thieves managed to track down Ipaben and force him to hand over his recipe. As they rode off with his work Ipaben muttered a magic word under his breath causing the concealed rune on the underside of the recipe book to glow hot red and explode, killing the thieves. Saddened at the loss of his work and the violence that followed, Ipaben retreated to an inn for the night. Upon waking up he found a note on his bedside table addressed to him from a group called The Shield. The Shield offered him protection and the resources to pursue his inventions provided he work as the guilds artificer. Ipaben gladly accepted the offer traveling the next morning to the guild's headquarters. Xanathar's Thieves Guild was extremely upset that Ipaben had killed some of their agents. Now taking him down was personal. They sent one of their best scouts, a Kenku ranger by the name of Korbo Naburu to find Ipaben and put him down. Ipaben was in an underground workspace on Shield business when Korbo emerged from the shadows. Ipaben, frightened at first and about to attack Korbo noticed that Korbo had not drawn his weapon. Korbo mimics that he had been watching Ipaben from afar and was fascinated by the magic rituals Ipaben had been performing. Ipaben then watched, impressed, as Korbo perfectly performed both the semantic and verbal portions of a simple enchanting spell, all he was missing was knowledge on connecting his mind with the arcane energies. Ipaben promised to teach him what he could in exchange for Korbo keeping his whereabouts, and the whereabouts of The Shield supply cave, out of the Thieves guild's knowledge. Korbo agreed and spent the next few months learning from watching Ipaben work. When Ipaben was ready to depart he told Korbo that if he ever wanted work in the future to ask for him at The Shield's headquarters. One particular day the guild sent Ipaben to a small village in order to provide information and supplies to a monster hunter who had been hired to rid the area of demons. Cultists had opened a small portal to the 9 hells and many fiends had come pouring out before it collapsed. Ipaben was happy to help, after all his favorite meadery was in the village and it would be a shame if the fiends got ahold of all the Pinestool Brew. Their snake tongues probably couldn't even appreciate the hoppy head and subtle mountain flower undertones. Ipaben et the hunter, a tiefling paladin who looked like he hadn't had a good night's rest, or a good strong drink, in months. Ipaben ordered him a drink and proceeded to start the conversation off with a few hilarious jokes in order to liven up the paladin's spirits. The paladin, visibly annoyed by this, turned and started to head out the door. Ipaben followed but could not keep up with the paladin's gait. When he made it outside the Paladin's was gone. A few hours later he returned, injured and smelling of sulphur. The headstrong paladin had run head first at the fiends! Without even a flask of holy water, a healing potion or a hellbane amulet for protection! He was lucky to make it back in one piece! Ipaben pleaded with the paladin to accept his help, which the paladin did. Getting right to work Ipaben supplied the paladin with the proper tools for fiend slaying. The next morning the paladin returned successfully having completed the task. The two spent the night drinking together. Ipaben learned that the paladin's name was Vaz Demonslayer and, recognizing his impressive skills, offered to get him an interview with The Shields recruiters. Vas accepted and the two left the next morning for guild headquarters. Personality Traits Generous and inquisitive Adventuring for the thrill of exploring Is always looking for ways to have a good time. Ideals Discovering life's unknowns makes it worth living There is always time for a good joke and good brew Bonds Rival artificer in a separate guild The Hammer Rival's name is Izzit Brittlebeard. Flaws Easily sidetracked Can come across as annoying. Entirely consumed with the idea of one-upping Izzit Category:NPCs